Alisa M. Libby's Blog, page 25

Guest author blogger: Jacqueline Kolosov

Welcome to today's guest-blogger, young adult author Jacqueline Kolosov.

MY WRITING RITUALS:

Since my daughter was born in January 2007, I've learned to be incredibly flexible–or perhaps I should I say I'm just eager to snag the time I can get. Essentially, though, I generally drink a big mug of tea while I write.

Question an interviewer would ask me:

Well, that would have to be, how do you get it all done–teaching, writing, raising a child? If it's legal to answer, I'd say, by being overly...

Happy birthday, Queen Elizabeth I

I was reminded by a fellow tudor fanatic that today is the birthday of Queen Elizabeth I. I would like to read more about Elizabeth. My favorite historical novelist, Margaret George, is writing a novel about the later part of her reign, which I expect will be wonderful. Elizabeth was certainly her father's daughter in many ways – they both knew how to use their appearance to inspire the awe and devotion of the masses. Maybe she was her mother's daughter too, in more subtle ways – fiercely...

every book has a theme song

I'm hesitant to prescribe a contemporary song to a historical novel, but the fact is that both of my books have theme songs. While I listened to more era/mood appropriate music while writing, I've already mentioned that "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones was definitely my theme for The Blood Confession.

I was inspired to write this post when the theme song for The King's Rose snuck up on me earlier today: "The Other Side" by David Gray. It may seem an odd choice, but take a look...

Guest author blogger: JonArno Lawson

I am pleased to announce that I will be sharing brief posts by other children's and young adult authors for the next month (or more, depending on how many obliging authors I can hunt down). I will launch this new segment today with children's poet JonArno Lawson, who spoke at the Children's Literature Symposium at Simmons this past summer. His most recent book is The Voweller's Bestiary.

Do you have any writing rituals?

I usually write in a little notebook that I keep in my pocket at all times. Of

Stuff I wrote as a kid

I was a poet, or at least I tried to be. Oddly, my poetry liked to tell a story, and my fiction liked to describe things in exhaustive detail. It took me a long time to work this out. It's amazing how blind we writers can be to our own idiosyncrasies.

I swear that I didn't use big words just to sound snooty or impress my teachers – I genuinely liked the sound of words like "incarnadine", "amaranthine", "verisimilitude" (I was made fun of pretty badly for using that last one in a poem…a rhyming po

My quote on mediabistro blog

I was quoted on the mediabistro/galleycat blog along with some other authors talking about finding time to write when you have a day job: http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/authors/day_job_survival_tips_124996.asp

Aces! In other news, I'm reading and reading. I've been thinking a lot about "comfort books". Like comfort food, but for your brain and much less fattening. They are a wonderful distraction when, for example, you can't work on your own book because it's stuck in publishing limbo and t

Boston

Walking through Boston the other night I was reminded of the beauty of this city that I commute into and out of every day with sadly nary a venture from campus (unless my office mates convince me that I require a burrito). It was a rare, too-rare treat to enjoy the way the sun tilted against the glassy tall buildings and gothic churches. I passed by students clustered at the fountain, the hair on one girl's head running from black to pink to blue and purple (it made me nostalgic for Emerson; bot

An old tale with a new twist

Last night I went to Lev Grossman's reading at the Boston Public Library. The author read from his new book, The Magicians, which is being described as "Harry Potter for adults". Now, this isn't to say that Harry Potter isn't for adults; it would be more accurate to say that The Magicians is Harry Potter NOT for children. It does follow the trials of a group of students in magic school (Grossman says he came up with the idea before the Harry Potter books came out. Ouch.) but it also includes som

magical swings, face transplants…loads of books

If you haven't noticed, I'm pretty obsessive about my reading tendencies. I think it's only worse lately since I'm floating around between projects. Or really, I'm floating around in project-limbo: I can't really work on my newest idea until I hear back from my agent. So what to do in the meantime? (Aside from fretting, yes, we've been over that.) Read, of course.

Most recently: The Swing in the Summerhouse, which is a sequel to the much-beloved Diamond in the Window, which was another short-runn

Alfred Lord Tennyson's 200th Birthday

Last Thursday, August 6, was Tennyson's birthday. I'm sure you're probably already familiar with his famous (and beautiful) "The Lady of Shalott", so I thought I would share with you one of my other favorites that I read over and over again as a tweenager. This poem is just one segment of his retelling of the entire story of The Sleeping Beauty. I've borrowed it from this website: http://home.att.net/~TennysonPoetry/dd.htm.

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY

I.

Year after year unto her feet,
She lying on her couch